


Isaac Scamander and the Impossible Suitcase

by flora_tyronelle



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: All sorts of crazy things happen, Eki is a precious flower, Except for Isaac, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, His two best friends try to help him out with the contents, Isaac inherits Newt's case, Isaac is snarky, Jay is very sassy, M/M, Magizoology, Multi, Next-Gen, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, i'll update the tags as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9545306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flora_tyronelle/pseuds/flora_tyronelle
Summary: Isaac Scamander, Newt Scamander's great-grandson, is in his seventh year at Hogwarts when he receives a plain leather suitcase, which contains a lot of things he's not really sure how to deal with. (He's also not sure how to deal with being a little in love with his two best friends, but that's a bridge to burn when he gets to it). It's an inheritance that will lead him and his friends into terrible danger (Gryffindor parties not withstanding) as, on the verge of adulthood, they struggle to understand the world around them and their place in it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, one and all, to what may take the trophy as the maddest thing I have ever written. This is my first time posting any of my OCs, so feedback is much appreciated!
> 
> This chapter features flying post (literally), a lot of swearing and Newt Scamander's secret underwear drawer.

“Isaac. Isaac.” Someone – Eki, he thinks- is hissing his name. He grumbles something incoherent, but doesn’t open his eyes.

“Isaac!” Eki snaps, and nudges him sharply in the ribs, “You have post!”

Reluctantly, ruing the day he became friends with this girl, he peels his eyelids up- just in time for something hefty to thump onto the top of his skull.

“Shit,” He curses, as a ripple of laughter chases itself up and down the Ravenclaw table. He turns, wounded (both literally and figuratively), towards Eki, wincing.

“Sorry,” She chuckles, “But I did try to warn you.”

Isaac glares, rubbing the point of impact, pulling what he hopes is a suitably aggrieved expression. Eki just raises her eyes to the enchanted ceiling (dotted with owls swooping beneath the arches) and pointedly ignores him until he gives it up and heaves a deep sigh.

“I suppose,” He says, heavily, “I’m expected to be awake, now.”

Eki looks as though she’s torn between sympathy and self-righteousness. She settles on a nod that manages, somehow, to combine the two, and presses her lips together, adjusting her glasses so they sit perfectly on the bridge of her nose.

Isaac groans, scrubs the heels of his hands across his eyes, and tries to look fully- or at least _mostly_ \- functional.

“Well?” Eki asks, “Are you going to open it? Or at least pick it off the floor so some poor first year doesn’t trip over it?”

The package is indeed lying on the flagstones behind Isaac, and he twists in his seat to retrieve it. Recognising the handwriting on the envelope pasted to the top of the rectangular box, he shakes his head.

“It’s from dad- and anyway, the bell’s about to go. I’ll open it later, up in the dorm.”

Eki shrugs. “Alright then.”

“Eki!” Dido Finch-Fletchley, one of Eki’s Hufflepuff friends, waves frantically from their table, and Eki waves back. She reaches for her bag and swings her legs gracefully out of the bench.

“Enjoy Muggle Studies,” Isaac tells her in a voice that hovers between ironic and genuine; a normal ritual, one of the few that runs even when his brain is still half-asleep.

“Enjoy Arithmancy,” She returns, grinning, then strides off, black and gold braids bouncing behind her.

Approximately thirty seconds later, the bell starts to chime the hour. Isaac sighs, braces himself, and gathers his things. It’s going to be a long day.

Isaac doesn’t generally believe in regret, but even he has to admit that opting to take Arithmancy to NEWT level ranks among his poorer decisions. Not only is the classroom on the fourth floor in the Astronomy Tower (which makes for far too many stairs on a Tuesday morning, in Isaac’s opinion), but the lesson content is uninspiring at best, and the high-pitched drone of Professor Hillfrost’s delivery doesn’t help matters. So, it’s with a familiar feeling of slight dread that Isaac hikes up the spiralling stone staircase, up through the floor of the Arithmancy classroom.

He drops into his seat with a thump, provoking a raised eyebrow from his neighbour.

“Don’t look at me like that,” He grouses, starting to unpack his things, “I had Eki giving me disapproving looks all through breakfast. _And_ I had my eyes closed. They were so powerful I could feel them anyway.”

“They were deserved,” Jay Harken says, looking Isaac up and down, “You look like shit. And,” He lowers his voice, “I’ll bet it didn’t even work.”

Had Professor Hillfrost not walked in at that precise moment, Isaac would have given his friend the finger- as it was, he’s forced to pretend the gesture had been an attempt to extravagantly rearrange his strawberry-blonde fringe whilst Jay quietly snickers.

“Settle down, Scamander and Harken!” Professor Hillfrost waves her wand and sends chalk symbols blooming across the blackboard. “If everyone will begin copying this down…”

One interminable hour later and they are released, Jay behaving, in Isaac’s exhausted opinion, with obnoxious enthusiasm for life in general and this morning in particular.

“- And we’re going to absolutely smash Ravenclaw this weekend-”

“I object to that,” Isaac cuts in, idly.

Jay lets out a bark of laughter.

“Face it, _Scamander_ , Slytherin’s had its name on the quidditch cup since last year.”

Isaac, not in the mood to argue house rivalries, merely rolls his eyes. Then he adjusts the parcel under his arm for the umpteenth time.

“Is it ten yet?” He asks.

“Don’t think so,” Jay replies, as they hit the bottom of the stairs and join the main thoroughfare to the Entrance Hall.

“Right,” Isaac makes his decision, “I’m just going to drop this off in my dormitory- I can’t be arsed to carry it for the rest of the day. Will you tell Professor Weasley where I’ve gone?”

“Of course,” Jay says, easily, “Although I want to be there when you do open it.”

“If you insist,” Isaac says, drily. “See you in a minute.”

And he hurries away towards Ravenclaw Tower, trying not to dwell on the way Jay’s grey-green eyes had flashed as he smiled. Trying and failing, but trying, nonetheless.

 _It’s not my fault_ , Isaac thinks, angrily. _If he hadn’t dyed his hair blue then it wouldn’t be nearly so obvious. I wouldn’t notice it so much_.

He lets these soothing lies carry him up to Ravenclaw Tower and thankfully a group of sixth years are just coming out so he doesn’t even have to deal with that smarmy door knocker.

The clock chimes ten just as he’s hurrying through the entrance hall, and he dashes into the Care of Magical Creatures classroom without a moment to spare. Eki and Jay are already sat at their table in the strange indoors-outdoors (apparently it used to be a Divination classroom, although who would want to study Divination in an imitation woodland is a puzzle beyond Isaac’s capabilities) and they wave as he rushes in through the door.

“Just in time, Isaac!” Professor Weasley grins widely at him, “Sit down. We’ve got a lot to cover today. Now, who can tell me the difference between a dragon, a wyrm and a wyvern?”

“Fame can get you anywhere,” Eki smirks as Isaac slides into his chair.

“Oh, shut up,” He says, and reaches for his parchment and a quill, even as the other two collapse into giggles.

\---

The fact that Isaac makes it all the way through lessons and dinner without falling asleep once is an achievement he is justly proud of. OK- there had been a _brief_ moment in Potions when they were waiting for their manticore ergots to soften when he _might_ have drifted off- but Eki hadn’t noticed, so it didn’t count.

The three of them are now traipsing up to Ravenclaw Tower, arguing idly about who was suffering the most so far with homework. Given that they mostly take the same subjects, it’s a hard task to find any factor to differentiate them: but Jay gestures expansively and claims, with a fair amount of evidence, that seeing as he’s expected to be flying six times a week on top of everything else, they could both just shut up and stop fucking whining. Unfortunately, Jay says this just as they draw near to the blue and bronze door, and a gaggle of second-year girls twitter in shock. The three of them ignore the commotion. Eki politely taps on the door.

“ _She’s_ not in Ravenclaw,” A tiny, scandalised voice pipes up behind them, and Isaac and Jay both whip around to find the perpetrator.

“Congratulations,” Jay says, acerbically, “You all have eyes.”

The second years quail.

“ _Jay_ ,” Eki reprimands, just as the bronze eagle forms in the centre of the door. “Honestly- _dragon_ _heartstring_.”

“Nice to see you again, Eki,” The knocker croaks, and Eki inclines her head politely to it as the door swings inwards.

The second-years gape.

“Make friends in other houses, kids,” Jay says, and sweeps into the common room, Isaac close on his heels. “Might save your asses one day!”

“Like that time you got locked out of your common room at midnight in third year,” Isaac reminds him, and Jay twitches the memory aside like an irritating fly. Isaac snorts.

“Come on,” Eki’s already beside the stairs leading to the boy’s dormitories. “Or are you not quite finished terrorising small children?”

Jay and Isaac share a look.

“Second years aren’t children,” Jay sniffs, a smirk pulling at one side of his mind, “They’re all possessed by djinn, I swear.”

“You’re impossible,” Eki huffs, but she’s smiling, and together they start climbing the stairs upwards.

The dormitory door doesn’t open when Isaac tries the handle, and he doesn’t hesitate before banging a fist on the thick wood.

“Please tell me this door’s locked for a reason!” He shouts, and there’s a clatter from inside.

“Sorry!” Luke calls back, “I was just getting changed for quidditch practice- hold on-”

“Isaac,” Eki scolds, softly, “Have you no patience?”

Isaac considers the question, as Jay leans against the opposite wall and watches them both.

“You’ve known me for- six years? I’m uncertain that you _really_ don’t know the answer to that question.”

“Don’t go obtuse on me,” Eki rolls her eyes. “I just meant-”

The lock clicks open and a second later Luke comes hurrying out, dressed in his Keeper’s robes.

“See you later, Isaac,” He says, and Isaac nods.

The dormitory isn’t in as much of a state as he’d thought it might be- the house elves must have already been in. Eki marches over to her customary spot, on top of Isaac’s trunk, and Jay plunks down on the bed beside Isaac’s. Isaac shuts the door behind them (and does _not_ lock it, because he’s not fucking _rude_ ) and then crosses to the package, resting on his pillow. He undoes the sticking charm with a quick flourish of his wand, then tears open the envelope. The note inside is brief, as his father’s notes so often are.

_Try the key your Great-Uncle Theseus gave to you. I can’t work out what’s inside, but be careful. We think it was your great-grandfather’s._

“What does it say?” Jay asks, now lying flat on Micah’s bedspread with an interested look on his face.

Isaac reads the note aloud, slowly.

Eki and Jay exchange a quick look.

“Your great-grandfather’s?” Eki asks, her brown eyes round behind her thick-rimmed glasses. “As in, Newt Scamander?”

“That’s the one,” Isaac replies, his voice oddly calm.

“Wow,” Jay blows out the word on a breath, and Isaac can’t help but nod in agreement.

“Diffindo,” He says, carefully aiming his wand so that the thick twine tied around the box severs neatly and falls away. Eki is poised on the edge of the trunk, like a swimmer about to dive into a pool. Even Jay’s normally laconic demeanour seems to have fallen away: he scrambles up from the bed, wand at the ready, his face lit up.

“Go on, then,” Eki says, softly, “Open it.”

Isaac nods, once. Then, before his nerves can fail him, he reaches out with one hand and pulls the lid off the box.

Inside is…

“A suitcase,” Eki says, a hint of disappointment colouring her tone.

“We got this excited over _luggage_?” Jay asks, a laugh bubbling through his words. But Isaac watches the case warily, half-expecting it to jump up and start- oh, he doesn’t know. Tap-dancing, maybe.

But it doesn’t. The battered, brown leather is as lifeless as the cardboard box it’s tucked into.

“Alright,” Isaac says, carefully, “Eki, if you move I can fetch the key.”

Eki jumps to the floor instantly and Isaac flings the lid open. His trunk is a real mess, but the key- he knows where that is. Tucked inside a pair of hideous red gloves, buried right at the bottom.

“ _Accio_ red gloves,” He says, and a small woollen missile launches itself out of the chaos and into Jay’s outstretched hand (this is a long-established system- Isaac doesn’t have hand-eye coordination to save his life, whereas Jay has the unerring reflexes only three years as a chaser will drill into you), who immediately passes it over. Isaac carefully separates the gloves, and the tiny golden key drops into his hand with a quiet clink.

His mouth has suddenly gone dry. Eki and Jay draw up behind him as he crosses back over to the case, and he could swear he can hear their nervous breathing, too.

“Wands ready,” He mutters, and they raise them together. Isaac lifts the handle; tugs the case out of its wrappings; and takes a deep breath.

“On three,” He tells them, carefully fitting the key into the tiny keyhole cut in the side (it fits, of course it fits, Rolf Scamander is hardly ever wrong), and it seems that everything around them holds its breath.

“One, two… _three_.”

The key turns smoothly clockwise, and the locks clicking back sounds like gunfire in the quiet of the room. The lid doesn’t spring open as Isaac had expected it to- nothing else moves.

“I’m going to lift the lid,” Isaac says, only it comes out as a whisper. He reaches out a hand again, and grasps the edge of the case.

“ _Now_ ,” He says, and pushes it up.

There’s a brief moment when the objects in front of his eyes refuse to realise, and he blinks furiously at them- a- a clock? A…

“Is that a pair of pyjamas?” Jay asks, in a slightly strangled voice, and Isaac, unable to do anything else, nods.

Eki tentatively prods the contents of the suitcase with the end of her wand.

“Perfectly ordinary pyjamas,” She says, the disappointment now tangible in her voice, and there’s a brief moment of silence.

“Pyjamas!” Jay yelps, and Isaac grunts in surprise as he’s tackled from behind. “We got this worked up over- _pyjamas_?!”

Isaac just about manages to resist being pushed over as Eki breaks out into giggles, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she wheezes with laughter. Jay is shaking with mirth, too, even as Isaac catches him off-guard and shoves him over back onto Micah’s bed.

“Don’t forget the alarm clock,” He says, sternly, as Jay cracks up in earnest; and Isaac laughs, too, but…

Well, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed.

“The alarm clock could have been _very_ dangerous,” Eki snorts, even as Isaac picks it up and weighs it in his hand. It is just that- a perfectly ordinary muggle alarm clock. The pyjamas are blue and white pinstripe, for fuck’s sake.

“I can’t believe that’s all there is,” He says, as Eki and Jay start to calm down. It’s a futile comment, really- a reflection of disappointment more than any actual disbelief, because Isaac is not prone to doubting his own senses. But Eki, lying on the end of the bed, suddenly sits up.

“May I?” She says, urgently, holding her hands out to the case, and Isaac, hope rekindling in his chest, hands it over as fast as he can without dropping it.

Eki starts examining the case, and in a handful of seconds she looks up, her eyes wide.

“Oh my _God_ ,” She says, half excitement and half exasperation, “I can’t _believe_ we didn’t see this.”

“What?” Jay says, his voice sharp again, but Isaac is already leaning over. There, below the tarnished gold nameplate, is a small, mechanical switch, with letters engraved over it.

MUGGLE-WORTHY.

The breath seems to have stopped altogether in Isaac’s chest.

“Put it back on the bed,” He says, in a hushed voice.

“We’re doing this again?” Jay asks, drily, “Because if we discover that it’s actually a cover for your great-grandad’s underwear drawer, I will never let you forget this.”

“If we don’t try, we won’t know,” Eki points out, drawing her wand once again from her sleeve.

Jay heaves a deep sigh.

“Alright. But I-”

“Jay?” Isaac says, leaning down to press his thumb against the switch.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

There’s a click, and the switch pops across. For an instant, nothing happens.

Then, as though the pyjamas and alarm clock were a mirage, they begin to melt away before their eyes, leaving…

A dark space. Where there should have been lining and corners and a backboard, there is now only a dark hole. Isaac looks to Eki, then to Jay.

“Not pyjamas, then,” He says, when he’s finally found his voice again. Jay shakes his head, for once utterly speechless.

“Or underwear,” Eki points out, with the barest twitch of humour in her voice.

“Alright,” Jay huffs, “I’m sorry about the underwear comment.”

But although they’re joking with one another, tension is still thick in the air, apprehension and excitement thrilling together like a smoke curling between the three of them.

“So?” Eki raises her eyebrows, “Are we going to have a look?”

For an instant, none of them say anything, but the decision seems to pass between them anyway.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Isaac mutters, and the other two follow.

Cautiously, they approach the case. The light cast by their three wands is bright, and it slides over the lip of the case and into the space beyond.

“It’s a _room_ ,” Isaac says, wonder flooding every part of his brain. The wandlight plays over the outlines of floorboards far below, shelves, something that might be a workbench.

 _Was this where he worked?_ Isaac wonders, angling his wand better to illuminate the corners. _Inside a suitcase?_

“Do you think it’s safe to go down there?” Jay asks, and the excitement rolling through his words is palpable.

Isaac shrugs, his stomach doing backflips.

“Only one way to find out.”

But before either of them can pitch inside the case, Eki firmly grabs each of them by the elbow and restrains them.

“No, there _isn’t_ only one way to find out.” She rolls her eyes and waves her wand in a looping motion in the direction of the case. “ _Homenum_ _revelio_.”

Her spell swoops into the little room below them- but nothing happens.

Isaac looks a little guiltily at her. “Forgot about that one.”

Jay snorts. “Got any more like that? Like, ‘Dangerous Creatures Revelio’, or something along those lines?”

Eki releases them and shakes her head. “Sorry, I’m all out. _Now’s_ your chance for death or glory.”

“Please,” Jay sighs, exasperated, “We’re not _Gryffindors_.” And with that, he sits on the bed, swings his legs into the case, and drops out of sight.

There’s a loud crash from inside the case- then everything goes silent. Isaac and Eki share a wild glance before craning their necks over the edge and simultaneously shouting down.

“Jay?”

“Jay?! Are you OK?”

There’s a groan, and Isaac manages to pick out Jay’s form, sprawled on the floor.

“Jay?!” He yells, and Jay’s pale face turns up to look at him.

“There’s a _fucking_ _ladder_ ,” Jay spits out the words like they’re poison, and if he’s swearing then he’s not too badly hurt. The sick feeling in Isaac’s gullet eases, and he gives a short laugh.

“Thanks for the hint,” He says, grinning, as he clambers onto the bed, dips a foot inside the case and feels- yes, rungs, pressing against the heel of his shoe. From down below, Jay gives him the finger.

Isaac _tsks_ , his eyes adjusting to the darkness as Eki’s face recedes above him. “Is that any way to treat your saviour?”

Then one of his feet misses a step, and he lurches downwards. “Fuck!”

“Yeah,” Jay grumbles, “Let’s see how you like it. Plunging into the unknown and getting only your best mate laughing at you and your head injury-”

“You’ve got a head injury?” Eki shouts down, fury and concern melded in equal parts in her whip-sharp tone. “Why didn’t you say anything, _idiot_?”

“Because it’s not _serious_ ,” Jay moans, even as Isaac skips the last few rungs and jumps down to the floor, glaring at his friend. “Oh, don’t give me that look.”

“How the tables have turned,” Isaac smirks, but he’s only doing it to hide how worried he is. “Come on, idiot, let me see.”

Jay struggles upright and turns his head to one side. In the yellow glow, Isaac can clearly see the gash just below his left ear, gleaming wet and dark with blood. He tentatively stretches out his hand to probe the edges of the wound. Jay takes a sharp intake of breath.

“That hurt?” Isaac asks.

“What do _you_ think,” Jay snaps back. Isaac rolls his eyes when Jay can’t see him, and pushes up the sleeves of his shirt.

“Alright. I’ll try episkeying it, but if that doesn’t work then we’re going to the hospital wing.”

Jay shrugs, making out it doesn’t bother him either way, but Isaac knows that Jay will pass through hell and high water to avoid being bed-bound, so he steels himself and raises his wand (ignoring the feeling that rises like a tide inside him whenever he has to do this, pull him back and patch him up and make him whole again).

“ _Episkey_ ,” He says, firmly.

There’s a hiss from Jay as the wound starts to knit itself together, the shine of fresh blood replaced with old, healing tissue. In a few seconds the injury looks days old, half-way to being gone altogether.

Jay cautiously stretches up his fingers to press at it, and Isaac smacks them away.

“Don’t go messing with it,” He tells him, firmly, a smile pushing its way out nonetheless.

“Alright, I trust you,” Jay huffs, and before Isaac can react he’s being pulled in for a short, bony hug. He instinctively reaches back- but then the moment’s gone and Jay’s pulled away and grinning at him in a way that’s just- just _unfair_.

“Thanks, salamander,” Jay says, and Isaac ducks his head at the nickname.

“Do me a favour,” He says, to Jay’s shoes, “Don’t go smashing your head up again.”

“He’s so demanding, this one!” Jay calls up to Eki, who’s been watching the entire thing. Isaac isn’t worried- she’s been there since they all met. If she’s not suspected anything before, then this won’t change anything. “Expecting me to not die every five seconds!”

“Speak for yourself,” She snorts, “ _I_ have a sense of self-preservation.”

“Unlike _someone_ I know,” Isaac throws the remark at Jay, who sticks his tongue out, and everything is normal again. Well, aside from the fact that they’re still, somehow, inside his long-dead relative’s suitcase. “Shall we have a look around? I believe that was the original point of the exercise.”

Jay swats him round the back of the head, then raises his wand to allow light to stream across their surroundings.

After a few moments, the word that comes to Isaac’s mind is _shed_. That’s what the little room feels like- wooden floors and panelled walls covered in dried-out things and shadowy bundles hanging from the ceiling. A shelf in the corner holds a collection of dusty bottles. Above the empty workbench, a window with blackened panes looms large.

“Are there any lights in here?” Jay asks, after a short while of just poking around, fear giving way to curiosity.

“Got to be,” Isaac replies. “Somewhere…”

“Um, boys?” Eki shouts down the ladder, “I don’t want to rush you or anything, but I’m a bit paranoid about somebody walking in here.”

Isaac nearly starts at the thought.

“Good point,” He yells up, then looks at Jay, “We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Jay nods, then raises an eyebrow. “I think I might have to fight Eki for that privilege.”

And, laughing, they both stride over to the ladder and jostle one another to climb up and out of this strange, forgotten place.

\---

The lid shuts with a quiet clunk, and Isaac collapses, without ceremony, onto his mattress. After barely a second, Jay flops down on his right. Eki carefully places the case on the floor, and lies down on Isaac’s left. They aren’t touching, but Isaac can feel the warmth of the two of them reaching across the space between. His heart is still pounding.

“Cliodna’s arse,” Jay mutters, after a while, and Isaac nods. He can feel his muscles relaxing, his heartrate calming. His missed night of sleep is apparently catching up with him. He allows his eyes to slide closed.

“Don’t go to sleep on us, you bastard.” A fist gently lands on Isaac’s stomach, and he groans. Jay chuckles.

“Yeah, you can’t just discover Newt Scamander’s workshop then go to sleep!” Eki says. “People have been wondering about that for years…”

“I know,” Isaac says, in a dignified sort of way, forcing his eyes back open. He _does_ know. Newt Scamander is as present a figure in his house as Joan, his pet kneazle. “I always assumed mum knew where it was, though. She’s a magizoologist, after all.”

Jay sniggers.

“I don’t think there’s an initiation ceremony where all qualified magizoologists are given the closely-guarded secret of Newt Scamander’s workshop.”

“Not to mention his underwear drawer,” Isaac lets his head loll to one side to smirk at Jay, who brings his hands up to hide his face.

“You’re never-”

“Nope,” Isaac’s smirk turns into a fully-fledged grin, “Never going to let that one go.”

“Bastard,” Jay murmurs, but there’s no malice in it. Eki laughs.

Isaac just tips his head back to the middle and once more allows his eyes to shut. “Yes,” He says, calmly, “We have just discovered a secret that’s been evading magizoologists for generations. Well done us. But, as you both know, I didn’t get any sleep last night, and the suitcase will, as far as I know, still be there in the morning. So-”

“So, what you’re trying to say,” Eki cuts in, loftily, “Is _fuck off and let me sleep_.”

“Told you not to try for a shrivelling solution,” Jay puts in, instantly, and Isaac mentally rolls his eyes.

“There’s a reason Eki’s my favourite.” He mumbles.

“I agree with Jay!” Eki says, indignantly, “It was a stupid idea, because you were never going to get fourteen consecutive hours free to watch over it whilst it simmered. I thought that was obvious.”

Isaac lifts his hand and claps it over his eyes.

“Alright,” Jay grumbles, “We get the hint. Sleep, you ingrate.”

The mattress rises a little as the pair of them get up, and Isaac smiles in benediction (but doesn’t bother to open his eyes).

“See you at breakfast,” Eki says, just as Jay says, “See you in defence.”

Isaac waves lazily, already feeling exhaustion creep up his limbs, preparing to drag him under.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Jay huffs, “You can’t sleep like that.”

Isaac makes a small noise of protest in the back of his throat, but somebody’s already seized his legs and dragged them up into the bed proper.

“There,” Jay says, “Now you can sleep without your feet freezing off.”

Isaac repeats the small noise, and gets a smack on his calf.

“A ‘thank you’ would be nice.”

Knowing that Jay won’t give up until Isaac gives in, he mutters, “Thanks, arsehole.”

“Honestly,” Jay laughs, “Come on, Eki, let’s leave this foul-mouthed quisling to his rest.”

 _Quisling_ , Isaac reflects, as the sounds of the two of them retreating across the dormitory fade. _What a lovely word_.

He’s out of it in seconds.

\---

Isaac sleeps right through to the bell the next morning, and wakes up to the general muted sounds of his dorm-mates getting up. He quickly tucks the suitcase under his bed (rudimentary, but effective) and stumbles to the bathroom. Unlike yesterday, he’s actually strangely pleased to be awake.

“You look practically human!” Eki exclaims, delightedly, as he slides into his customary spot beside her at the breakfast table.

Isaac ignores that comment, and reaches for the porridge. Before he can ladle some into his bowl, however, a note flutters down in front of him- folded like a butterfly, Eki’s exuberant signature. He glances around at her, then plucks it off the table-top.

 ** _When are we going back in? And I think we should have a code when we talk about it in front of people_**.

Isaac’s first thought is that this, read out of context, could be taken rather suggestively. His second is that this may be a touch paranoid- but, then again, more caution is usually better than less.

He shrugs and pulls a face at her that says, _Alright, why not_ , and reaches for the porridge again.

This time, he actually manages to get his spoon half-way to his mouth before the next note starts flitting around in front of his nose. He shoots Eki a look of exasperation (unfortunately, she’s looking innocently at her Charms homework, and doesn’t catch it) and snatches it away before it can perch on his forehead.

**_So? Tonight? Code ideas?_ **

Isaac heaves a deep sigh, shoves the mouthful of porridge home, then searches for a quill.

**Tonight. And I’m not the creative one here.**

He slides the scrap of parchment back to her, and attacks his breakfast with single-minded intent whilst Eki scribbles away next to him. When he’s going back in for seconds, the parchment lands back in front of him.

**_Our cover is that we have a grindylow in a tank to study. It’s not technically illegal. And we should be able to pull one out of the lake fairly easily._ **

Isaac raises an eyebrow.

**Are you saying we should actually procure a grindylow in a tank?**

**_Of course! There’s no point in an imaginary cover._ **

Isaac sighs, resigning himself to a very wet weekend, and nods. Eki smiles, and primly folds the note away.

“Eki! Isaac!” They both jump about a foot in the air as Samuel Nesbitt, a Gryffindor seventh year, claps them both on the shoulder. “Passing notes? Not arranging a secret tryst, are you?”

Isaac exchanges a slightly wild look with Eki, but thankfully Sam steamrolls on.

“Regardless,” He leans down and drops his voice, “We’re having a party tonight. Gryffindor common room. Everyone’s invited; we’ve kicked all the lower years out for a night.”

“But it’s a Wednesday,” Eki points out, her nose wrinkling. Isaac frowns.

“Won’t Professor Bones notice you going around inviting everyone?”

They all glance up at the top table- currently, the headmistress seems to be involved in deep conversation with one of the house elves.

“Nah,” Sam says, “And anyway, we’ve got Professor Potter. He hates docking points off us.”

Isaac shrugs.

“We’ll think about it.”

“Good man!” Sam gives them both another teeth-juddering thump on the back, straightens up, and strides off.

“You just said that to get him to leave us alone, didn’t you?” Eki says, rounding on Isaac, who holds up his hands in a calming gesture.

“ _Obviously_ ,” He says, “We’re- going to look at the tank tonight.”

The concerned look on Eki’s face fades to a smile.

“Good.” She reaches under the table for her bag. “Nearly time for defence!”

As though prompted by her words, the food (including Isaac’s porridge) disappears from the crockery. Isaac stares glumly at his empty bowl for a few seconds, then drops his spoon and picks up his own bag.

“Onwards, then.”

The bell starts booming through the hall, and there’s a rustle and a scraping as everyone else gets to their feet, and Isaac and Eki start walking towards the doors.

Jay is already waiting for them outside the defence classroom.

“Good _morrow_!” He says, drawing the words out like they’re chewing gum in that peculiar way he has, and Isaac ignores the familiar kick of his heart at the sight and sound of his _best_ _friend_. “So good of you to finally join me.”

“Quidditch is voluntary, you know,” Eki points out, “Nobody’s forcing you to get up at five in the morning to go and fly around on a stick in the dark.”

“ _Voluntary_?” Jay scoffs, as their classmates start to join them, “Hishiv would hex my balls off if I missed a practice. _Voluntary_. Honestly.”

There’s a quiet cough from behind them, and Professor Potter pushes open the door, looking as though he’s trying very hard not to laugh.

“Inside then, you lot. We’ll be looking at defensive charms today, which will probably come in handy someday- although I’m not sure they’d block a spell that would remove your testicles, Mr Harken.”

Eki makes a strangled noise and Jay sucks his lips inside his teeth in censure as their professor strides into the classroom. Isaac resists the urge to giggle, poorly.

“Oh, shut up,” Jay hisses, and marches in front of them both into the classroom. Isaac knows him too well to take offence, and follows him, chortling quietly, as the professor begins to scrawl incantations across the board.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought?
> 
> A note on accessing common rooms: to promote inter-house unity, each house now has a password to access everyone else's common rooms- which increases the likelihood of somebody remembering a password significantly if you have friends in other houses (and, if you're a Ravenclaw, you can get your friends to bypass the smarmy doorknocker altogether).
> 
> And I love the idea of Harry becoming a teacher, so. He's done auror-ing in this fic.


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